


Hold Tight

by Vialana



Series: Hope [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, M/M, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Pining Lance (Voltron), Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-22 00:12:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11368548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vialana/pseuds/Vialana
Summary: Keith and Lance are on a mission that goes sideways.





	Hold Tight

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is the story that I've been building towards in this series.

The mission was simple enough: infiltrate the Galra base, Pidge grabs the stolen intel while Hunk watches her back, Lance and Keith free the five Yexen scientists taken captive, try to avoid any patrols, if you do meet any sentries, take them down before they can raise the alarm.

This particular base was supposed to be low-risk. At the very least, nowhere near as well-fortified as Beta Traz. It should have been an easy mission.

The problems started as soon as Keith opened the door to free the scientists while Lance kept watch for any patrols. Two of the Yexen jumped Keith as soon as the door slid open, their battle cries startling the two paladins and bringing a nearby patrol down the corridor to investigate. By the time Keith managed to convince the Yexen they were there to help, Lance had taken down three sentries, one had got away to raise the alarm, and Keith was bruised all over from the rough handling by the ridiculously tall, four-armed hard-hitting scientists.

Rather than bothering with their apologies, Keith hustled the Yexen down the hallway, far too aware of the blaring siren hastening their movements.

_ “What did you two do?” _ Pidge sounded exasperated. She was panting into the helmet microphone, running as she and Hunk made their way back to the Green Lion.

“This one wasn’t our fault,” Keith protested, taking out a sentry at the next junction. “Did you two get what we needed?”

_ “Yeah. We’re almost back at Green.” _

“Good. Take off. Lance and I will be right behind you in Red.”

Lance took out another patrol coming up behind them. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Definitely getting out as fast as we can.”

“Does this mean you have disabled the weapon?” One of the Yexen asked hopefully.

Hallway momentarily free of droid sentries, Lance and Keith allowed themselves a moment to stare incredulously at the Yexen. “What weapon?” They asked in unison, dreading the answer.

 

* * *

 

“Shit.”

Lance could only nod in agreement at Keith’s appraisal of the situation.

The weapon appeared to be a prototype, not in any way usable if only because of its size and instability. A ball of purple energy glowed behind a glass partition in the middle of an otherwise empty room—empty because arcs of purple lightning somehow managed to slide between the glass molecules and impact the scorched metal walls at random intervals in random places.

Lance, Keith and the Yexen watched the feed of the room from a video panel next to the door leading to the weapon. It was situated in an alcove in the middle of a hallway near the main thoroughfare to the hangers. The group was very exposed and too close to the main areas of the base to remain undetected for long.

Lance made sure to position himself at the edge of the alcove with his back to a wall to keep an eye out for patrols.

“Are we sure this is a weapon and not some weird Galra art installation?” Despite his wary gaze, Lance tried to lighten the mood.

The Yexen, however, seemed offended by the quip. One of them, the bulky fluorescent orange toned one (their leader—or at least their spokesperson) said, “Of course it’s a weapon. You think a race as uncultured as the Galra could come up with something so elegant?”

“Elegant. Sure, that’s the word I’d use.” Lance tried to share a look with Keith, but the red paladin was still staring at the video feed of the weapon.

“There’s no control mechanism out here,” Keith said.

“The control panel is inside.” Orange said this as though it were obvious and not the stupidest thing that Lance had ever heard. The other Yexen (their skin tones more muted yellows like mustard and lemon) nodded in agreement.

“Inside the room of purple lightning death? Why would you design it that way?” Lance stared at the scientists, genuinely baffled by this.

“We didn’t know at the time the energy source would be able to interact with inert substances like glass in such a manner.” And now the scientists looked sheepish. “Keep in mind it is only a prototype.”

“Yeah, a prototype that can kill us all without help if the Galra don’t somehow manage to make it work well enough to do it themselves.”

Keith finally looked back over at Lance, his own wild eyes not very reassuring after Lance’s outburst which was not refuted by the Yexen. Rather than making things worse with further accusations, Keith took a position opposite Lance at the edge of the alcove to watch for patrols from the other end of the hall.

Lance groaned and activated his microphone. “Pidge, please tell me you guys are out.”

_ “We are. Why aren’t you?” _

In the background, Hunk groaned.  _ “Seriously?” _

Lance ignored their well-founded suspicion. “Hypothetically, how would one go about disabling an unstable energy source that shoots lightning randomly through glass partitions specifically designed to hold said energy but seems to be failing at doing so very effectively?”

_ “What the hell?!” _ Pidge yelled at them.

_ “Are you kidding me?!” _ Hunk yelled at the same time.

The alarms were still blaring and sooner or later a patrol was going to catch up to them. They didn’t have time. “Just, give me something to work with,” Lance said, “because all I can think of is overloading it and blowing it up.”

Lance ignored the cries from the Yexen, who were clearly too invested in this deadly invention of theirs to be thinking straight. He could hear a patrol run by in an adjacent hallway. Keith was at the ready, still positioned protectively in front of the Yexen. Lance had his own bayard primed, his finger loose by the trigger but his arms positioned to react instantly.

Pidge hummed.  _ “That’s actually not a bad idea if you can run far enough away before it goes critical. Where’s the control panel?” _

Lance winced. “Inside the room of death right next to the glass.”

_ “What idiot thought that was a good idea?!” _

“We have already yelled about that design flaw.”

_ “Then no, we can’t do that. Can we just leave it?” _

Lance peered through the door again just in time to see an arc of lightning spark against a loose panel on the wall. “I don’t think so. If the Galra actually manage to stabilise this thing then it could be really bad for everyone.”

Pidge sighed.  _ “Yeah. Hang on, we’re coming back.” _

“Pidge, no,” Keith interrupted. “We’ve got patrols looking for us and you have intel we need back at the castle. There’s no point in risking you and Hunk on this too.”

_ “Um, how about no,” _ Hunk said.  _ “We’re a team and no one is going to run off and do something stupid right?” _

Keith didn’t answer and Lance stopped breathing.

“No.” His voice came out as a choked whisper. Keith flinched, turning towards him but not meeting his gaze. “Keith, you can’t.”

“Get the prisoners out.”

Lance stepped towards him but before he could even try to talk Keith out of his stupid decision, a patrol of droids arrived at the junction at the end of the hallway behind Keith.

Lance raised his rifle and took out two before they could even raise their weapons. Keith spun around and engaged two droids that ran forward. The Yexen cried out and hid as best they could behind Lance’s lanky build (which was not very effective, considering there were five of them, all at least two metres tall each).

The scuffle drew the attention of another patrol and Lance took three more out before one got a lucky shot.

“Agh!” Lance cut of the scream of pain but it was too late.

Keith spun around, pulling his bayard from the torso of a mangled droid that managed to score the hit. “Lance!”

“I'm fine.” Lance took out the last droid in the corridor, arm shaking with the strain of holding his rifle up with a wound to the bicep. He collapsed back against the door in the alcove with a groan.

After a quick visual check that there were no more enemies and the Yexen were all unharmed, Keith bolted to Lance's side to examine the injury.

Lance hissed when Keith’s fingers brushed the plasma burn.

“You need to get to a healing pod.”

_ “What's going on down there?” _ Pidge asked.

_ “Is Lance okay?!” _ Hunk demanded at the same time.

“Everything is under control,” Lance tried to assure them.

“Lance was shot,” Keith said, undermining his good work.

“I'm fine,” Lance said, trying to smile, but it emerged as a pained grimace and Keith’s panicked gaze widened. “I've had worse.”

“Lance …” Keith’s fingers reached towards Lance's cheek, as though he needed the reassurance that Lance really was okay.

_ “Uh, guys, you've got more patrols converging on your location.” _

Pidge’s words broke the strange tension between them.

Keith straightened up, his hand falling to his side and clenching into a fist. “You need to get the prisoners out.”

“Not without you.”

Keith shook his head. “You said it yourself, this is too dangerous to leave.”

“But we came in Red.”

“She'll let you in. She wouldn't just leave you.” Keith offered a small smile. “Besides, I think she likes you.”

The smile did the exact opposite of reassuring Lance. “Keith, no.”

Keith looked down, away from Lance's begging gaze. “It's been fun. I … I don’t regret a single moment.”

Keith put his hand against the door control.

Lance moved almost without thinking. Keith might not, but  _ Lance _ had one regret. A big one.

Keith’s mouth was open, ready for an argument as to why it was necessary he be the one to go in and risk his life again. But Lance wasn’t arguing. 

His hand slid against Keith’s cheek, mirroring the way Keith had wanted to reach for him just before. The skin under his gloves was warm. He let his bayard dematerialise and pulled Keith closer by the front of his chest piece with his other hand, fingers curling over the top of the armour. Lance ignored the burning pain in his arm, the awkward positioning, the sirens, the Yexen, and everything else that wasn’t Keith as he tilted his head and leaned in.

Keith’s eyes were so beautiful up close.

The kiss was awkward. Lance had to lean almost sideways so their visors wouldn't catch. Keith’s lips were chapped and his skin was rough with the hint of stubble. They smelled of sweat, blood and burnt plasma.

It felt desperate and agonising and it was over too quick.

Lance didn’t know how he could have ever imagined their first kiss happening in any other way: unplanned, in the heat of battle, as one of them was about to die.

Keith’s eyes were wide as Lance pulled back. He hadn't expected that kiss—hadn't expected Lance’s feelings. He was stunned. 

Keith’s hand was still on the lock. Lance used those seconds of confusion to push Keith away and slip backwards through the now open door into the weapon room.

Keith stumbled backwards, realising too late what Lance was planning.

Lance rematerialised his bayard and shot the door control from inside the room before Keith could even react or yell out. The door slammed closed on Keith’s horrified expression.

Lightning flashed past his face, sizzling as it hit the metal door.

The energy inside the room played havoc with the frequencies in his helmet. He could hear snatches of sound from the other paladins, desperate syllables breaking through the static. He heard his name, cried out in three pained voices.

He didn’t want to do this, he truly didn’t. But they couldn’t risk the Galra using the weapon. With patrols about to come down on the fleeing prisoners and outnumbered paladins, there weren’t many options on the table. And Lance wasn’t willing to stand back and watch Keith die. This was the best option for everyone.

Lance took a deep breath and thought about kissing Keith.

No more regrets.

Lance turned and raised his rifle.

He took the shot.

The world exploded.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry. 
> 
> Feel free to yell at me in the comments or on Tumblr: [ladyvialana](https://ladyvialana.tumblr.com/)


End file.
